NHL at the Martin-Lapointe Arena of Saint-Pierre

In partnership with the NHL and Lachine Borough, employees of Home Depot put in 1000 hours of volunteer work to renovate the Martin-Lapointe Arena in Lachine; on they painted a few areas here and there and replaced some carpets. On January 8 and 9, about 50 Home Depot employees worked on this project.

To highlight this beautiful effort, NHL representatives, with president Gary Bettman leading the team, took advantage of special activities to do a match presentation of the All Stars Game in Montreal for some media coverage in Lachine in the company of numerous invitees and young hockey players who were able to mingle with Pierre Boivin, Gary Bettman, Martin Lapointe and other former players of the Canadian Club.

Giving honour where honour is due, Martin Lapointe, born in Ville St. Pierre, spoke first. He acknowledged the arena’s renovation work which was named after him. “For me, it’s my second home, and I am proud of this place because it encourages the young – like I was once upon a time – to start playing hockey”, said the professional player who used to play for the Red Wings of Detroit, Bruins of Boston and Black Hawks of Chicago. Today, he is a free agent.

Gary Bettman and Pierre Boivin, and Home Depot representative David Stern also spoke briefly to congratulate this partnership accomplishment. Not to forget Borough Mayor Claude Dauphin who said “thank you to all for the excellent work, a beautiful initiative for our young.”

Lachine Borough invested more than $100,000 in renovations, including the purchase of a brand new Zamboni, an ice re-surfacing machine. The work of Home Depot volunteers was supervised by the city’s blue collar workers.